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Rotary speaker talks economics, cutting red tape

The Kentucky Association for Economic Development is a nonprofit that educates, advocates for and connects economic developers, he said. The organization, which is celebrating its 50 anniversary this year, has 550 members across the state.

Economic development might be better served if entrepreneurs had to deal with less red tape.

Kentucky now has a Red Tape Reduction Initiative, initiated by Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's administration, to help make the state more business friendly.

As of April 10, almost 2,000 of the 4,700-plus administrative regulations have been reviewed, according to redtapereduction.com. Of those regulations, 151 have been repealed, 338 have been targeted for repeal, 176 have been amended and 427 have been targeted for amendment.

"The goal is to look at these regulations and make it easier for entrepreneurs and groups to work within their own communities without a lot of the red tape," Hal Goode told The Gleaner.

Goode is the president and CEO of the Kentucky Association for Economic Development. He was the guest speaker at Rotary of Henderson luncheon on Thursday afternoon.

Goode is a member of the Springfield, Ky., Rotary Club. He's also been a Washington County magistrate for 23 years and worked in economic development for 28 years.

The Kentucky Association for Economic Development is a nonprofit that educates, advocates for and connects economic developers, he said. The organization, which is celebrating its 50 anniversary this year, has 550 members across the state. It's headquartered in Frankfort.

"We are truly a great group to network with about economic development," he said.

KAED works closely with the state.

"We like to consider ourselves that right hand of that Cabinet for Economic Development," Goode said.

"Through our organization, we do more of the educational piece," said Goode. "We bring our folks in, we look at the overall economic development and what we need to work on. So when you look at any piece of economic development in the state of Kentucky, I think something that keeps coming back are workforce development."

The state has invested $100 million that's going for ideas on how to build up workforce development in the past year. Goode said he expects to see a continued investment in workforce development.

The Henderson area is a strong one for economic development.

"You've got strong industrial parks, you've got the rail, you've got water, you've got great electric partners in this area," he said. "I think this area has a lot going for it on that avenue as well, just from the standpoint of being able to have the general logistics of what groups are looking for when they look to relocate."

The vast majority of the economic development growth in the community comes from existing businesses, he said.

"You have to be retaining those jobs," Goode said.

This is done through having infrastructure in place and investing in workforce development, he added.